Recipient Organization
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 2275A
BROOKINGS,SD 57007
Performing Department
College of Education & Human Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Emerging adulthood, or the transition through late adolescence and young adult years, is a distinct stage of life associated with declines in healthy lifestyle behaviors. Young adults are at risk for unhealthy weight gain and dietary patterns, as well as more sedentary lifestyles. The dramatic changes in living and social situations associated with emerging adulthood have been linked to adverse health outcomes. These outcomes may be further challenged by the escalating cost of higher education and uncertainty in the global and local economies. Communities to include campuses and other communities especially those with limited income where young adults reside will benefit from timely and personalized information, as well as utilization of evidence-based tools and programs to enhance the health and well-being of this population. The overarching goal of this multistate project is to support campuses and communities in which young adults reside in creating environments and opportunities that embrace young adults' unique barriers to a healthy lifestyle, promote healthier weights, and reduce health disparities among vulnerable members, who are the fastest grown segments within the US.Consideration of the perceived and actual environment in obesity prevention programs has been hindered by a lack of efficient, reliable, and valid tools. To overcome this, individual and environmental factors that predispose, enable, and reinforce healthy eating and activity behaviors among young adults will be identified. Valid, reliable, and efficient tools will be developed to assess the food, physical activity, and policy environments in which young adults reside to include college campuses and other communities especially those of limited income. The assessments will include development and inclusion social determinants of health and influential disruptive factors. These tools can used by researchers and extension professionals around the US to benchmark and track environmental conditions and perceptions and create health promotion programs for young adults. They also can be used by stakeholders and decision makers who work with target communities to identify needs and efforts to develop healthier environments and support decisions and development of policy to promote health.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
Dissemination and implementation of Healthy Campus Research Consortium (HCRCâ¿¿s) suite of tools that utilize a policy, systems, and environment (PSE) approach for campuses.
Development of policy, systems, environment (PSE) assessment tools for urban and rural communities with low income considering social determinants of health and influential disruptive factors (IDFs).
Expanded understanding of college studentsâ¿¿ dietary patterns considering social determinants of health and influential disruptive factors (IDFs) with an emphasis on food insecurity, mental health, and the built environment.
Exploration and interpretation of interactions between lifestyle behaviors and environmental factors using big data analysis techniques with multiple data sets.
Project Methods
To accomplish Objective 1, assessment tools and materials created in multistate team will be disseminated to partner organizations to enhance and increase adoption.Behavioral assessments, policy and program assessments, and a campus audit collectively assist members to evaluate their communities. Collected data are comprehensively summarized and reported through the HCRC developed communication tool (eB4CAST) to assist community leaders to translate and share data with their community stakeholders. In Year 1, training materials and approaches will be developed to educate others to use the assessment tools and communication materials. Development will focus on designing content for online platform delivery (websites and webinars), as well as in-person workshops or conference settings (in-person or virtual). In Year 2, surveys will be developed to measure the effectiveness of the training and to conduct process evaluations of material adoption (rate, intensity, and pitfalls associated). In Year 3, the developed training will be implemented with individuals from across the nation and the effectiveness of the training will be assessed and reported. Also, in Year 3, the adoption and usage of materials will be tracked, and secondary data analysis of the material effectiveness and outcomes of the assessments will be collated and reported. In Year 4, the training and dissemination protocols will be refined and additional training with partner organizations will be planned. In Year 5, dissemination activities will be conducted. To accomplish Objective 2, a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach will be used to target communities where young adults live. Institutional advisory committees consisting of community members will partner with the research team to identify areas to include in the Behavior and Environmental Perception Survey (BEPS-community) and adaptation and testing of the HCEA. The development of BEPS-community will happen concurrently with the community adaptation of the HCEA across all five years. Year 1 will continue phase 1 from the BEPS-community work from our previous five years by repeating focus groups with program assistants of federal nutrition programs that serve communities with low income but exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on the perceived healthfulness of their communities. Questions will explore how COVID-19 affected the local food environment as well as resources that support healthy behaviors. Each university will conduct 3 to 5 focus groups, transcribe, and analyze data for themes. In addition, during Year 1, each university will identify a community with low income and develop an advisory committee to guide the testing of HCEA audits. In Year 2 universities will conduct interviews with stakeholders who work directly with families with low income to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the perceived healthfulness of the communities in which they work as well as on available resources. Interviews will be transcribed, and data analyzed for themes. In addition, universities will again test each HCEA audit in the identified target community to determine which items are appropriate for community use and which audits are missing or need to be modified. The dissemination tool eB4CAST will be used to put findings or each institution's results into a usable infographic story to be used with administration, faculty, staff, and students. In Year 3, universities will continue the BEPS-community development by conducting focus groups with adults who live in low-income communities to determine the perceived healthfulness of their communities and available resources and how COVID-19 impacted this perception. Universities will transcribe focus groups and analyze data for themes. Concurrently, universities will identify new tools or develop new tools for the HCEA to better evaluate the healthfulness of the target community to test them later in Year 3. In Year 4, the research team will utilize data collected in Years 1-3 to generate the first draft of the BEPS-community survey. Selected universities will administer the survey to a convenience sample of adults from communities with low income (n=400). Using exploratory factor analysis, the instrument will be refined to include items fitting into identifiable factors reflecting the breadth of constructs related to community perceptions of the environment. Decisions will be made to determine other constituents that should be included in data assessment, including demographic as well as behavioral items. Concurrently, an HCEA training will be developed to train community members to utilize the developed community HCEA tools. In Year 5, the instrument will be administered to a wider audience of diverse community members (n=2,400) with additional behavioral validation items. Confirmatory analyses will validate the psychometric structure.To accomplish Objective 3, findings from the previous work, identified two key issues that require further exploration in young adults attending college, these are food security and the impact of mental health issues on diet quality. A new tool will be developed to measure college student food security and to assess the relationship with mental health and diet quality of college students. In year 1, we will identify assessment tools that already exist to evaluate food security and mental health and their appropriateness for use among college students. Each university will also conduct three to five focus groups, composed of students, faculty/staff, and/or administration, to explore topics related to food security, mental health, and IDFs. Universities will transcribe the focus groups with data analyzed at one of the institutions comprehensively to identify themes. Emergent themes will be used to generate additional items for the food security/mental health survey and HCEA. In Year 2, universities will complete cognitive interviews conducted with college students using the compiled survey items to further generate items and expand the HCEA. The survey items will be adjusted based on outcomes from cognitive interviews. In addition, universities will train students to conduct the newly developed/adjusted HCEA tools (food security and mental health). In Year 3, the research team will utilize data collected in years 1 and 2 to generate the first draft of the expanded BEPS survey. Selected universities will administer the survey to a convenience sample of college students (n=200). Using a random split sample, an Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis will be conducted to test and validate the tool. Concurrently, universities will test each HCEA audit and the newly developed audits (food security and the intersection of mental health issues on diet quality) to determine which items are appropriate to capture changes on college campuses that have occurred post-IDFs (e.g., grab-and-go in cafeterias). In Year 4, the research team will administer the survey and HCEA to a wider audience of diverse college students (n=2400) at four universities for additional item validation. Confirmatory analyses will validate the psychometric structure. The instrument will be validated using additional items. Partnering universities will conduct the HCEA (food security and mental health) audits on their campuses. The product will be a validated survey to assess food security and mental health in college students and a tested environmental audit to capture food security and mental health resources. In Year 5, the research team will disseminate findings.To accomplish Objective 4 datasets from NC1193 multistate work will be analyzed using big data techniques to continue the exploration of mechanisms of interaction between lifestyle behaviors and environmental factors in influencing healthful behaviors and health status of young adults.